The Landy family traces its roots to Chaim Ephraim (Landesman) Landy and his wife, Esther Yudovitz, of Kovno, Lithuania. Chaim was a sofer (Torah scribe). Six (of a reputed eleven) sons immigrated to the United States between 1880 and 1905. These six sons and their spouses are the ancestors of the present day branches of the Landy family.
Jacob Landy (1850-1916) immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1888 and became the first sofer in the region. Two years later he opened the area's first Jewish bookstore. His brothers Morris (?-1930) and Aaron also settled in Cleveland. Hersh Landy immigrated in 1905, settled in New York City, worked as a sofer, and opened a Jewish bookstore. William Landy settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Louis Landy settled in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
During the 1920s and 1930s the family shipped food and clothing to relatives in Lithuania. In 1932, the Cleveland branch of the family established a Landy Family Club, with a constitution, regular meetings, and social events. Several such events were reunions, attracting family members from across the country. After World War II and the Holocaust, the family no longer had any contact information for relatives in Europe. A renewed effort during the 1990s to remain in contact with contemporary Landy descendants produced information about their current activities.
The Chaim Landy Family Photographs, 1904-2006 and undated, consist of approximately 60 black and white individual and group portraits and ten color individual and group portraits.
This collection is of value to researchers seeking information about the descendants of Chaim Ephraim and Esther Landesman of Kovno, Lithuania. Of special note are photographs of Louis Landy in the early 1920s, from his time as a relief worker with the American Red Cross in Egypt and the American Relief Administration in Russia. Researchers studying the history of the Jewish community in Cleveland, Ohio, will also find this collection useful.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by name and then chronologically. A family tree that explains the family relationships of the individuals depicted in these photographs is located in the first folder of MS 5102 Chaim Landy Family Papers.
The researcher should also consult MS 4844 Rachel Diane Landy Papers, MS 4988 Louis Arthur Landy Papers, and MS 5102 Chaim Landy Family Papers.
Processed by Evy Rosenblum and Lou Rosenblum in 2011
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] PG 569 Chaim Landy Family Photographs, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Evelyn Rosenblum, 2009.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.